From the Dec. 7, 2011, Northern Ohio Journal "Navy veteran recounts escape from fiery waters of Pearl Harbor" by Bill Delaney.
Claude Blondin, 90, was below deck on the USS Oklahoma looking for something in his locker when the attack began. He said, "I went up to the metal stairway to the rear of the boat. As I opened the door, the mast fell. The ship started swaying, so I jumped in the water and started swimming. The water was on fire. Wherever I swam, I had to brush the fire away."
He enlisted in 1940, directly out of high school. Born and raised in Cleveland, the best civilian job he had paid 25 cents and hour. In 1941, he went to Pearl Harbor. He liked Hawaii, but not Honolulu, "There was nothing there but whore houses and beer joints.
He swam from the stern to bow of the Oklahoma and was rescued by a captain's boat and taken to Ford Island.
The Tragedy of the Oklahoma. --GreGen
The USS North Carolina (BB-55) My all-time favorite warship. As an elementary school student in North Carolina, I donated nickels and dimes to save this ship back in the early sixties.
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